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An artist that should be no stranger to followers of the blog, I got another chance to see Frank play another (free!) gig the other night at the new Kentish Town/Camden venue the Flowerpot.

Run and owned by the now deceased Nambucca, the Flowerpot opened it’s doors for the first time just under a week ago. They put on free, live music every night with just one artist playing each night and a DJ set beforehand. So having heard murmurs on the interweb and through various sources that Frank was playing on this date, I headed down bright and early to ensure I got in as the venue holds a mere 200 people.

It’s fair to say I got there a bit prematurely at 6 o’ clock but I was taking no chances! So after a few hours drinking and a long stand, the set finally started and I was in prime location of the front row, dead centre.

By the time he came on, the venue had packed out (or seemed to have done.. I couldn’t quite see from where I was) and the atmosphere was something special. As before, he came bounding onto the stage with a borrowed guitar, gave us a little welcome and then launched straight into “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous” with the whole crowd singing along.

That set the night off perfectly and he played a great set featuring a couple of new songs (“Try This At Home”, which I’d heard previously, “Dan’s Song”, with Frank’s friend and fellow artist Beans On Toast playing the harmonica, and “Sunday Night”) which were both great and went down well. But he knew the score and knew that as nice as it is to get to hear new material, you can’t beat the classics.

The set consisted of a lot of tracks off both albums with a lot more off “Sleep Is For The Week” than the last time I saw him which was great. Songs off the old album included “Worse Things Happen At Sea” and “Back In The Day” which I hadn’t heard live before. Off “Love, Ire & Song” we were treated to an amazing rendition of the title track, along with “Substitute”, “Long Live The Queen” and “St Christopher Is Coming Home”.

We also got to hear possibly the shortest rendition of “Jet Lag” as Frank forgot the lyrics once he got to the third line. But no fear, after a bit of banter from the crowd, he just launched straight on with the rest of the set. The setlist was entirely done as he felt on the night so getting to hear one of my favourite songs, and one not played very often, in “Heartless Bastard Mother Fucker” was one of the highlights for me as was “Photosynthesis” which is easily one of the best songs live.

So after almost an hour and a half of jumping around and singing at the top of my voice along with the rest of the clearly excited audience, we got to the final track which, in almost obligatory fashion, was the brilliant “The Ballad Of Me And My Friends” with Frank actually singing none of the vocals. But that wasn’t the entire story as halfway into the first verse I got a little look of Frank and the next second was up on stage alongside him, and a few others who followed, and got to sing on stage with the man himself!

All in all, one of the best gigs I’ve been to seeing as it was such an intimate venue and everyone there seemed to love him as much as I do and getting to get on stage with him was simply amazing. And I even got a photo and a hug with the man himself as well!